Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well. Sorry I don't have much time today to email, so this one will have to be pretty short. Everything here in Jamaica is going well. This past week has been pretty hectic and crazy because we had to move some missionaries around and also do a lot of splits with some missionaries for training purposes. It is crazy how fast time is flying by. This week has been especially quick. Currently, we are working with a couple of really awesome investigators. We are actually teaching two families who were referred to us by members! They are really good people, and so far teaching them has gone very well. It is amazing how much more receptive people are to learning about the gospel when a friend introduces them to the gospel rather than us cold contacting them. One thing that I have been pondering about lately is the importance of humility. Humility is when we submit our will to the Lord's will. The reason we can do this is because of the perfect love that God has for each and everyone of us. As we humble ourselves and yield ourselves to the Spirit of the Lord, several things will happen. We will be cleansed and sanctified, we will have no more disposition to do evil, and our very natures will change to name a few. That is the test that we all have in this life: whether or not we will humble ourselves before God and remain humble by obedience to the principles and ordinances of the gospel. And, when we truly humble ourselves, that is when true joy comes. I know that this gospel is true and that our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are all powerful and all knowing and full of charity and love towards each and everyone of us. may we always strive to do their will and follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. Love you all,

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing excellent. This past week has been a memorable one to say the least. Full of miracles and the Spirit of the Lord. As all of you know this past week was transfer week, in which we had 15 new missionaries come to the island. My companion and I spent much time driving and transporting missionaries and participating in training meetings. Let's just say things were very busy. We weren't even able to get to bed until after 1 am on Tuesday and Wednesday night, and on both of those days we had to wake up at 5 am or earlier. In one day I also drove the mission bus more than 500 kilometers. which was about 9 hours of driving. That is just a small taste of the business of this past week. Miraculously though, everything with transfers went pretty smoothly it was great when everything was finally finished. 

Transfers wasn't the only thing exciting that happened here this past week though. Several other miracles occurred. On Wednesday, we had a very special meeting with all of the 15 new missionaries and their 15 trainers. The Spirit was so strong in the meeting. President Brown spoke, and he shared with us a Spiritual revelation that he received as he interviewed all 15 new missionaries. He turned to 3 Nephi 22:1-2. He told us what those scriptures mean, and he prophesied that the Lord had sent those 15 new missionaries to help establish a stake in Jamaica. He prophesied that within the 2 years of those 15 missionaries service a stake would be established in Jamaica. The Spirit filled the whole room. He said that in the past Jamaica has been barren, but not anymore. A stake will be established. I started to weep uncontrollably. I know that what President Brown said is true because the Holy Ghost bore witness of that to my soul. The work of the Lord is hastening in Jamaica. It will take many miracles, but I know Jamaica will have a stake within 2 years because this is not the work of man, but this is the work of Almighty God. On Sunday, we had district conference in Spanish Town. Over 720 members of the church who live within the Spanish town district assembled. The chapel was not big enough to fit everyone. In the conference, President Brown again prophesied that Jamaica would receive a stake within 2 years. He called all of us missionaries up to stand in front of everyone and we sang called to serve. By the end of the song, everyone in the chapel was standing singing. I could barely choke out the words. It was a very powerful meeting. I feel so blessed and privileged to be serving a mission in Jamaica at this time. I don't want my mission to end. I don't want to leave Jamaica. I know this is the Lord's work. love you all,

ELder Nugent

Hello everyone! greetings from JA. Wow. Is it just me? or does time seem to go by faster and faster every day. This past week has been excellent. We have met several very promising investigators over this past week. We are teaching a family that are good friends with the Browns. We met the grandfather of a girl that we baptized on Saturday who is friends with my great uncle Mipsy. (Grandma's brother). We will be teaching him on Sunday. And we have been receiving quite a few referrals from people who we visit. No complaints there. A little while ago we met a pizza delivery man and he agreed for us to come teach him at his house. He warned us that he lived pretty deep in the wilderness, but we didn't realize just how deep until we went to teach him yesterday. Yesterday we called the pizza guy and received directions to where he lives over the phone. We drove deep into the tropical rain foresty mountains for quite some time looking for this guys house. there was no real signs of civilization and we were driving for some time, when we decided that we were lost and were about to turn back. Just as we were about to abandon our search for the pizza guy, we saw him pop out around a bend in the road on his motorcycle. We then followed him for about another 20 minutes deep into the jungle when we finally reached a little dirt trail that our vehicle couldn't drive on. We parked the vehicle and then hiked the little trail to the pizza guy's house. all in all, it probably took about 40 minutes of driving through the jungle before we finally reached where he lives. It was a pretty cool drive and we had a pretty cool lesson with the man and his family.

Also, on Saturday, we had a baptism! We baptized the daughter of the part member family that I told you about last week. The ones who knew grandpa and grandma. It was a really good baptismal service, and we received a lot of support from members and nonmembers. The girl that we baptized is such a sweetheart. She is one of the purest and smartest little girls i have ever met. The baptism of the girl has done a lot to really help her family as well. We are going to hopefully begin teaching the father of the family who is a nonmember, and the mother of the girl has become active after a long while of inactivity. It has been such a blessing to be able to know and teach this family. I am grateful for this blessing from the Lord.

This next week will be pretty hectic. Tomorrow my companion and I are going to be driving around the entire island picking up missionaries in the mission bus for transfers on Wednesday so wish me luck. I love you all. I hope you have a great week,

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing fantastic, and happy Independance day a few days ago. I hope it was a good one. The work is going well out here on this end. This past week has been pretty good and busy. Right now, we are gearing up for transfers which is next week. This will be the biggest transfer that I have ever experienced on my mission. Almost every missionary will be affected because we are gaining 15 new missionaries and only losing 6 and there are a couple of other factors requiring some big changes. Lets just say transfers is going to be crazy. This past week, we had our first missionary leadership council meeting with our new mission president, President Brown. It was awesome. President Brown is a great mission president. We learned a lot about finding people to teach and about how the work is hastening. It was excellent to say the least. Jamaica is definitely blessed to have him. This week has also been busy with transfer meetings, and of course teaching the gospel. Next week will be even crazier though. Because it was recently Independance day, I would like to share a cool quote I found in a talk by Elder Neil A. Maxwell: 

"Brothers and sisters, by divine appointment, “these are [our] days” (Hel. 7:9), since “all things must come to pass in their time” (D&C 64:32). Moreover, though we live in a failing world, we have not been sent here to fail.

Recall the new star that announced the birth at Bethlehem? It was in its precise orbit long before it so shone. We are likewise placed in human orbits to illuminate. Divine correlation functions not only in the cosmos but on this planet, too. After all, the Book of Mormon plates were not buried in Belgium, only to have Joseph Smith born centuries later in distant Bombay.

The raising up of that constellation of “wise” Founding Fathers to produce America’s remarkable Constitution, whose rights and protection belong to “every man,” was not a random thing either (see D&C 101:77–78, 80). One historian called our Founding Fathers “the most remarkable generation of public men in the history of the United States or perhaps of any other nation” (Arthur M. Schlesinger, The Birth of the Nation [1968], 245). Another historian added, “It would be invaluable if we could know what produced this burst of talent from a base of only two and a half million inhabitants” (Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam [1984], 18)." 

I love that quote. I know that we, like the Founding Fathers, have been placed on this earth in a specific place, at a specific time, around specific people for a reason. I know that we have been placed in other people's "human orbits" to be a light to them. Especially in sharing the gospel. I know that me being sent specifically to Jamaica, to be a missionary at this particular time was not a coincidence. I know that as we submit our will to the Lord's will we will be in our intended orbit to light and help those who we are suppose to help. I love you all and I pray for you.

Elder Nugent

Hey everyone! hope everybody is doing well! Things are going awesome here. Things are really starting to pick up for Jamaica. The Lord is hastening His work. This has been a pretty eventful week. On Saturday, President and Sister Hendricks flew home after finishing and magnifying their callings as our Mission President and his wife. It was sad to see them go. President Hendricks is one of the best men I know. I have learned so much from him, and he has changed my life. On Friday night we went to the airport with President Hendricks to pick up our new Mission President, President Brown. President Brown is the first Mission President called from Jamaica. I knew him a little before he received his call because he was previously a counselor in the Mission Presidency. President Brown is awesome! He has so much energy and passion and excitement for this work. I am so blessed to be able to work closely with him at this time. On Sunday, he came to our branch, and he gave a powerful talk about the hastening of the Lord's work. He said that when he was in the MTC, Elder L. Tom Perry said that these announcements for missionary work (the age lowering, the changes talked about in the meeting last week, etc) will have at least an equal impact on the world as the First Vision, and the revelation on the Priesthood in 1978! What a great time to be a missionary! Just to give you a small clue about the hastening of the work here in Jamaica, in 9 weeks, we will be losing 8 old missionaries and gaining 29 new missionaries. There is a lot of excitement here. I know we are going to see some huge miracles soon. The work is going well. Currently, my companion and I are teaching a really special family. The mom of the family was actually an inactive member who had served a mission years ago here in Jamaica when Grandpa was still living in Mandeville. She says she knew Grandpa pretty well, and the missionaries even stayed at their house before. A couple weeks ago we started teaching her and her daughter who is 9 years old. We have had some really good lessons with them, and the Spirit of the Lord has been working in their hearts. The mom is now active in the church, and we will be baptizing her daughter on the 13th. It is so awesome to see the hand of the Lord in this work. He works in many mysterious ways, and I am glad to be able to serve Him. I love being a missionary. I love all of you back home. Have a happy 4th of July! And always remember that Jesus Christ is the source of true freedom. 

Love,

ELder Nugent